Observations by a European Venture Capitalist
What happens when a venture capitalist known for precision bets in digital health dives headfirst into the wild world of pheromone research?
You get one of the strangest—and potentially most fascinating—collaborations in startup science: The House of Pheromones x Min-Sung Sean Kim.
Pheromone colognes and perfumes have been floating around the internet for at least 20 years now. But …
If you’re a digital health founder, funding doesn’t have to mean giving up equity.
While most headlines focus on VC raises and unicorn valuations, a growing number of early-stage startups are tapping into non-dilutive funding—capital that doesn’t cost you cap table real estate.
Grants, competitions, government programs, and strategic partnerships can offer critical runway, validation, and visibility without handing …
You can pitch your vision. You can show traction. But in digital health, one missing ingredient will quietly kill deals:
Clinical credibility.
Investors and enterprise buyers alike want to know: does your product actually work? Not in theory. In practice. In the real world. Especially in healthcare, where patient outcomes—not user engagement—are the true north star.
The reality is, clinical …
Traction is great. But if your unit economics don’t work, you’re just accelerating toward a cliff.
In digital health, where margins can vanish behind compliance costs, clinical onboarding, or sales cycles longer than a Netflix series, VCs want to know: can this business actually make money?
Here’s how to understand—and clearly present—the unit economics that matter when raising capital.
If you’re building in digital health and you haven’t thought about regulation… you’re already behind.
The moment your product touches patient data, makes health claims, or interfaces with clinicians, you’re in regulated territory. And while regulation might sound like the enemy of innovation, savvy founders know it’s actually leverage. It’s what separates credible companies from vaporware. It’s what investors look …
Not all great ideas get funded.
Some die quietly in a VC’s inbox. Others flame out in a 12-slide deck that looked perfect in Canva but landed with all the force of a deflated whoopee cushion. The idea might be good. The timing might be great. But if you don’t understand what digital health investors are actually looking for? You’re …
When you think of digital health, you probably think of sleek interfaces, chatbots, telemedicine, AI diagnostics, and smartwatches tracking your every heartbeat.
You probably don’t think of scent.
But maybe you should.
Because underneath all the algorithms, user flows, and biometric data lies a deeper truth: healthcare is emotional. And few things influence human emotion more immediately—and more viscerally—than …
You’ve nailed the pitch. Your deck is crisp. The investor nods along.
But then? Diligence hits. And suddenly, your narrative isn’t enough—it needs receipts.
In digital health, due diligence isn’t just a legal formality. It’s where deals get made—or quietly die. Why? Because health tech is not like building the next social app. There’s real-world risk, regulatory complexity, and lives …
Some pitches flop not because the idea is bad, but because the delivery makes investors quietly click the mental “pass” button.
In digital health, this effect is magnified. The stakes are higher. The jargon is thicker. The scrutiny is brutal. Founders walk in with a pitch and walk out thinking the VC just didn’t get it.
Truth is, they got …
Let’s save you 18 months, half a million dollars, and the slow horror of realizing no one wants your product.
If you’re building in digital health, validation isn’t optional. Before you write a line of code or pitch a VC, you need to know:
“Does anyone actually want this?”
And more importantly: “Will they trust it enough to use …